Best FAN setup and temperature sources for max airflow

[levye]

Hi all,

As far as i know, there are so many combinations to set up fans, their input sources and spin configurations. That is why i am a bit confused about how to setup my system. So i have a couple of questions.

Firstly my summary configuration is,

( Asus Rog Strix Z370-E, Asus Rog Strix GTX 1080 Ti, Be Quite Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU cooler, Fractal Define R6 , 3 X Be Quite 1400 mm PWM (2 Intake + 1 Exhaust )

So i am confused about how to configure my 3 chases fans,

1- We can configure our fans either by BIOS settings or Fan Xpert software. Is there any difference of advantages one to another?
2- Which components cause the heat most and in which order?
3- I am planning to connect one of my intake fans to the GPU card. Then I believe i can select GPU + CPU combo as input for that fan. Any idea how a socket on graphics card knows about CPU temperature?
4- Does it make sense to configure exhaust fan (out fan) according to CPU or GPU? Or is it better to configure exhaust fan independently from CPU or GPU?
5- I can also connect one of the intake fans to chases fan on mobo. Then it seems i can choose up to 3 temperature sources to configure that fan. I can also select CPU as source. However, does it make sense to choose CPU if i choose auto mode from option 3 above?
6- Does it make sense to configure one fan directly for GPU and one for CPU temperature?
7- Do PCH and motherboard temp is discardable compared to CPU and GPU?

Basically, what is best setup for 3 fans?

Many thanks

[Carbonicdk]

All cases are different but since I have a R6 too I might be able to give some input.
1. I always use the bios, the software has been unstable to me and it's just silly having an application running in the background when the bios handles it just fine.
2. If you have not overclocked your CPU I would say that your GPU needs the cooling the most, In this case you can use a buttom mounted cooler and one on the front blowing into the card. The best way however is probably to measure your own temperatures and see if either CPU or GPU gets too hot.
3. You need the Asus GPU tweak software to configure external fans connected to your GPU. I'm not a big fan of this software so I didn't connect my cooling to my gfx card.
4. Yes, you should always have an exhaust fan near your CPU area to get rid of the hot air in that area as you don't want heat to build up there, the sensor there is the CPU sensor so I would make the speed CPU dependant.
5. Not sure what you mean.
6. For temperatures it can make sense but for noise it's probably a bad idea.

Basically, you want positive air pressure to avoid dust, so 2 intake fans and 1 exhaust. Exhaust always go in the back. 1 intake in the buttom and 1 in the front if you need to cool your GPU the most, or 2 in the front if you want to split the air between the CPU and GPU. Best layout for the most people is the one it has with it's stock coolers.

[Deepcuts]

I have an R5, so pretty close to R6.
My setup after lots of testing is:


All Fans are 140mm noctuas + one small 40mm for M.2 SSD
I am happy with temperatures. Very little dust.

[Carbonicdk]

Deepcuts wrote:
I have an R5, so pretty close to R6.
My setup after lots of testing is:


All Fans are 140mm noctuas + one small 40mm for M.2 SSD
I am happy with temperatures. Very little dust.

If it works for you then it works 🙂 From my testing having an R5 as well, I hope that the HDD to the left of the harddrives is the side panel fan (which the R6 don't have) because otherwise, according to my testing, not enough air will reach the graphics card as you have created a funnel from the intake and up through the CPU radiator.
Also not a big fan of the negative air pressure but cooling wise it's not a disadvantage, it only has to do with dust and even with negative air pressure the R5 is still excellent with dust.

[Deepcuts]

Indeed, the diagram is not very accurate :). Don't even know why I made when I could have just taken a picture.
A picture might be more relevant.
Top left fan is to cool the VRMs. Does it job decently.
Bottom middle fan (yes, it is a custom redneck mount) is for more air to the GPU and also cooler disks. max 64 degrees Celsius GPU on load. max 34 degrees Celsius on disks.
Side panel does nothing for my cooling. Only more noise coming out of the case. So no fan there.
CPU under load at max 64 degrees Celsius @4.7 Ghz all cores.(delided)
Noise levels measured right next to case is 31 dB under load.
All fans controlled by BIOS normal preset.

[levye]

Thank you very much. I have ended up with 3 Be Quite 140 mm PWM fans which are 2 intakes located at front panel and 1 exhaust at the rear.

I have also Be quiet Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU cooler with 2 fans which are connected to ;

CPU_COOLER = Fan1 to CPU_FAN and Fan2 to CPU_OPT
INTAKE FAN 1 = CHA_FAN1
INTAKE FAN 2 = Asus Rog Strix GTX 1080 Ti Fan Header
EXHAUST FAN = CHA_FAN2

No operating system installed yet so still configuring BIOS.
The problem here is that when I power the PC my second intake fan connected to GPU is not spinning.
I have read that, It starts cooling/spinning when GPU reaches a certain temperature (Such as 60 degree etc) Is that correct?
Moreover, some suggest not to use GPU fan header at all

Questions:
1- I am out of chassis fans on mobo. (I don't want to use m2_fan as it read temp from m2 heatsink which I don't need).
So, GPU fan header pin is the only way to configure a fan which works based on GPU temperature? Anyone uses GPU fan header and
gets good results out there?

2- As there is no other fan header on mobo, only way is that to use a Y splitter and connect front fan1 and fan2 to CHA_FAN1
However, my concern is, if there will be enough current on the header to feed 2 x 140mm PWM fans.
As I read from different resources, fan headers on mobo provides usually up to 1amp and 140mm fan usually works on 0.3amp.
Which means I can actually connect up to 3 fans to one fan header on the mobo. Is that correct? Also, if I use y splitter, then is it possible to configure two fans separately? how PWM signals work in that case another question.

3- I don't know how to use EXT_FAN which is 5 pins. I also have a t_sensor included in the box. Can I plug t_sensot + 4-pin fan header to EXT_FAN?
Also, I am not sure how I can place t_sensot near GPU slot.

4- I also have fan controller integrated on my Define R6 case. However, I believe those fans connected to controller can not be configured by BIOS or software. Is that correct? Which source those fans connected to fan controller uses such as motherboard temp, GPU or CPU etc?

Many thanks.

[Carbonicdk]

1. Yes the external fan connected to the GPU follows the GPU fans unless configured otherwise - the only way to do this is to have the Asus GPU TweakII software installed and setting a custom fancurve from that. GPU TweakII didn't work that great for me so I instead decided to have it all run off CPU temperatures with the fans connected to the motherboard with a custom fancurve in bios.
2. Your Fractal R6 comes with a fan hub, connect the fan hub to a fan header on your motherboard and to power and you can control up to 5 x 3pin fans and 3 x 4pin fans.
If you connect the CPU fan to it you can have all your fans run at the same speed as your CPU fan or you can choose not to.
.
So, no reason to use a splitter 🙂
3. I don't believe you can do anything with the EXT_FAN. Just ignore it, don't use it.
4. The fan controller can be controlled in bios, all fans connected just runs at the same speed (if they are the same fans). In the example in the image above the controller is connected to the CPU_FAN so CPU_FAN in the bios will just be all the fans connected instead of 1 fan.